If it doesn't taste good, why eat it?

The tart is somewhat of an archnemesis to me. It’s the dough, you see, it hates me. It has such simple ingredients: a little butter, a little sugar, some flour, salt, and egg- how could one screw this up, right? Well I could, and have, several times. This is where Smitten comes in. She took Dorie‘s recipe and she worked it and she published it and she explained that we need not be afraid of it because she had conquered it- and she was right!

I tried this tart shell recipe once last fall and loved the flavor, but the texture did not come together right for me. I was impatient, you see. This time I took the time and had the patience, and it paid off. The dough is like shortbread in flavor and consistency. In this particular instance, I used local peaches from the Open Square Farmer’s Market in Holyoke. I baked them into the pillowy love of a goat cheese custard. It was a marriage made in heaven.